


Contingency Plan

by themoonowl



Series: A Real Hero [14]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Artsy OC, EDI is the best really, Gen, M/M, Mass Effect 2, Pre-Suicide Mission, Samed Is A Boy Scout, Unexpected Friendship, Unshackled EDI, contemplation of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-12 16:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20567576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoonowl/pseuds/themoonowl
Summary: The Normandy SR2 is en-route to the Omega-4 relay. Samed contemplates his future.





	Contingency Plan

Samed opened the door to his quarters. To the aquarium’s light painting his model ships a bluish tint. To a room he'd become familiar with—too familiar for comfort. To a crew he genuinely enjoyed spending time with, getting to know. A crew whose fate now lay unknown—a fate he actually  _ worried  _ about. Who knew things would turn out so… decent?

He leaned on his desk and his hands twitched. This was it—a suicide mission, going where no-one's gone before. Killing back the bastards that killed him first.

It was kinda funny—two years ago that would’ve been a sentence some gruff, but oddly handsome action hero would say. But there he was—a mechanic from Mindoir, deemed important enough to bring back from the dead.

Going to his death again.

His fingers twitched again at that thought. Death.

Like his legs walked on their own—and with all the implants and cybernetics, were they even capable of that?—Samed wandered to his armor drawer and pulled out his kevlar padding. He pressed on the fabric and heard the crumpling of paper in response. The drawing was still there, in the same crease. A silly thing, really. Made in a moment of despair, of the last spark of hope for the past desperately flickering its miserable light and turning into, well, this.

He unfolded the paper to the pencil-drawn lines of the now staff commander sitting peacefully in Port-Observation with a book. It really was silly. But it still made his heart skip, made his chest pleasantly tight. The feelings were there. But the lines were fading.

He strode back to his desk, frantically moving through the thingamajigs and whatnots on it, looking for something more permanent to fix this small silly thing with.

"A pen is located behind the stack of papers to your left, Shepard," a voice sounded over the comm.

"EDI? How did you— Wait, does anyone else know about this?"

"I did not put your conversation with Ms. Goto in my report to the Illusive Man, if that is what you meant."

"Why not? You weren't unshackled back then."

"Your adrenaline and cortisol levels were the same as those of an average human male during a combat situation. My reports were sent on a daily basis. I merely displaced your hormone information in my report so that it would show as an increase in stress during your fight with the Collectors on Horizon."

Samed smirked to himself. "So anyone watching will think it's because of that, instead of, well."

"Correct. As for the audio of the conversation, Ms. Goto scrambled bits as they were being recorded—reducing the audio to mere static which I could not process correctly."

"Wow, EDI. I don't know what to say."

"You were distressed. I deemed it non-critical information."

"Still, it's amazing. Going against your programming like that just to keep something a secret."

"I did not go against it. I merely found a way through it, in part thanks to Ms. Goto. Might I remind you that the pen you were searching for is still in the same position—the leftmost stack of papers. You have one hour and forty-nine minutes to complete your drawing of Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko, if you so desire."

"You knew who this is?"

"Yes. May I also suggest an omni-tool scan? Paper is an outdated and unstable material to carry with you in battle."

"I would rather not digitalise this while the Illusive Man is watching, EDI."

"The Illusive Man does not have direct access to this ship since I took over. Your secret would be safe."

"Still, it's not something I'd want people to know."

"I see."

"Thanks anyway, EDI. Didn't know you—well, it's not important now. Glad to have you on the team."

"Thank you, Shepard."

Samed leaned on his chair overlooking the model ships and re-traced most of the lines with the newfound pen, even improving some of them. Yeah, that looked like the Lieutenant—or rather Staff Commander now, alright. The slicked-back hair, the focused eyes, the warm smile that would make him melt every time they would have their talks in the old Normandy. 

_ Two years ago _ , the words still rang in his head. If he died now, no-one would find his body. No-one would find anyone's bodies. Not even the Normandy. Not even this small, silly thing which gave him hope while he fought in hell out there.

Maybe that was for the best. If something happened to him—well. It wouldn't be fair to bring up old feelings after his death.

"EDI, how much time until we hit the Omega-4 relay?"

"Thirty-eight minutes."

"If—” He sighed. “If I don't make it on this mission, can you relay a message? To Lieutenant—Staff Commander Alenko?"

"If my systems are relatively undamaged at the end of the fight, I can."

"Then," Samed sighed again. "Just inform him that I'm dead. For good this time. And then transfer every intel you have on Cerberus to the Alliance. Tell them—tell him—it's a gift. From me."

"Will do, Shepard. Taking into consideration the upgrades you installed and the crew's readiness, the percentage of—"

"I don't need to know the odds, EDI. They'll just drive me nuts."

"Understood. Logging you out, Shepard."

Alright. Everything was as ready as it could be. He now had a plan in case he died—again—and had gathered all the crew and tech he could find. As for the silly little thing he held in his hands—he folded the refurbished drawing and placed it back in the same crease. For good luck. Though he would need more than luck to pull through all this alive. 


End file.
